Gord Cowan, Stephen Yu and Darren Clare join Avison Young's Ontario retail
brokerage group

TORONTO, March 30 /CNW/ - Mark Fieder, President and Managing Director, Ontario of Avison Young, announced today the appointments of three top retail brokers: Gord Cowan as Vice-President in the company's Toronto North office, Stephen Yu as Retail Specialist in the Toronto North office, and Darren Clare as Senior Retail Consultant in the company's Ottawa office. All three real estate professionals were formerly with DTZ Barnicke in Ontario.

Cowan, Yu and Clare will work closely with existing retail team members Jordan Karp (Downtown Toronto office) and Tom Bollum (GTA West Mississauga office) to strengthen Avison Young's Ontario and national retail capabilities by further developing major retail client relationships locally and across Canada.

"We are very fortunate to have three of Ottawa and Toronto's top retail brokers join our local and national team at Avison Young. Their diverse skill set, industry expertise, and extensive local and national networks will fit in well with the Avison Young philosophy of focusing on the client's needs," says Fieder. "Their knowledge of the Ontario market coupled with their wealth of real estate experience will add tremendous value to our retail team and further enhance the services we provide to existing and new clients."

Cowan has more than 20 years of experience in the commercial real estate industry, starting with Marsh Hospitality where he specialized in launching new businesses in the hospitality industry. He leveraged that experience into a highly successful career in retail brokerage when he moved to Royal LePage Commercial in 1995, focusing on retail and hospitality clients. Cowan was most recently a senior member of the retail team at DTZ Barnicke in Toronto, dealing primarily with retail and hospitality clients in both landlord and tenant representation roles. Cowan's clients have included Fran's Restaurants, Fab Concepts (Irish Pub Group), Brix Winebar, Lonestar Café, Tim Hortons, Oxford Properties, Great West Life, Morguard Properties, Bentall LP and First Capital Asset Management.

Yu brings to Avison Young eight years of retail industry experience, initially as an owner-operator of a successful retail business in downtown Toronto before entering the retail brokerage industry three years ago with DTZ Barnicke. Yu has had great success representing tenants and landlords in the Toronto North market. He has been able to leverage his retail experience for the benefit of his clients and has become a strong entrepreneurial advisor to retail landlords and tenants. Yu's clients have included Bentall LP, First Capital Asset Management, Strathallen Capital Corp., and many private owners. Along with his success in landlord representation, Yu has represented many retail brands, including The UPS Store, Optical 88, Snap Fitness and Tim Hortons. At Avison Young, Yu will focus on retail development projects, shopping centre properties and street-front suburban retail.

Clare's background includes more than 10 years of retail experience, beginning with Chambers Hall Real Estate in Hamilton, Ontario where he was involved in a variety of sales and leasing transactions. He relocated back to his hometown of Ottawa in 2000 and became DTZ Barnicke's local retail expert in 2001. Clare has developed a very successful retail practice in the Ottawa and Eastern Ontario market and concentrates on retail landlord and tenant representation. His market knowledge of specific retail nodes with respect to power centres, shopping centres, strip centres, regional malls and street-front retail in the Ottawa region is one of his leading qualities. Clare has represented a number of retail landlords and tenants, including Ryder Truck, Quiznos, IBM, RioCan, Allstate Insurance, Lululemon, Avis Car Rental, and Canada Lands.

"We are pleased to have Gord, Stephen and Darren join the Avison Young team in Ontario. Their decision to come on board is an important endorsement of what Avison Young has accomplished over the past 18 months and will be a key factor in meeting the goals we have set for the growth of our offices across Canada and beyond," comments Mark Rose, Chair and CEO of Avison Young. "These appointments demonstrate our commitment to strengthen our national retail capabilities and to provide a truly integrated client-centric services platform for our global, national and local clients."

"Stephen, Darren and I are proud to be joining Avison Young at this exciting stage in its growth. We look forward to working with the talented local and national retail team, further developing the company's retail real estate services capabilities and ensuring that its excellent reputation continues to grow," says Cowan. "We hope to contribute our experience and expertise by identifying opportunities in the marketplace and offering creative solutions to meet clients' real estate objectives."

Avison Young continues to pursue an active acquisition and expansion strategy. Over the past year, the company has grown from 11 to 17 offices and from 300 to 600-plus real estate professionals. It opened its first U.S. office in Chicago, IL in 2009 followed by offices in Washington, DC and Atlanta, GA. The new Toronto North office opened in December 2009. The company has also been continually adding key talent in its existing markets over the past year.

Founded in 1978, Avison Young is Canada's largest independently-owned commercial real estate services company and the only national, Canadian-owned, principal-managed real estate brokerage firm in the country. Headquartered in Toronto, Ontario and ranked among Canada's leading national commercial real estate organizations, Avison Young is a full-service commercial real estate company comprising more than 600 real estate professionals in 17 offices across Canada and in the U.S. The company provides value-added, client-centric investment sales, leasing, advisory, management and financial services to owners and occupiers of office, retail, industrial and multi-residential properties.

    
    For further information/comment/photos:
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    -   Sherry Quan, National Director of Communications & Media Relations,
        Avison Young: [phone] or [phone]; [email protected]
    -   Mark Fieder, President & Managing Director, Ontario: [phone]
    -   Mark Rose, Chair and CEO, Avison Young: [phone]
    -   Gord Cowan, Vice-President, Toronto North office - Retail Services:
        [phone]
    -   Stephen Yu, Retail Specialist, Toronto North office - Retail
        Services: [phone]
    -   Darren Clare, Senior Retail Consultant, Ottawa office - Retail
        Services: [phone]

    www.avisonyoung.com

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For further information: Media Relations: Sherry Quan, [phone] or [phone], email: [email protected]